Airport History

RNZAF Station, Harewood 1948

Christchurch International Airport was established in 1936 with
an aerodrome at Harewood.

Development of the aerodrome at Harewood commenced in 1936. By
1946 the form of the terminal area development was established with
hangars, a small terminal building, the water tower and some
barracks buildings. The two runways and parallel taxiway concept
was established in the early 1950's and in 1960 a new terminal
building was in operation. Since that time, additions to the
buildings, development of parking and access and extensions to the
runway/ taxiway/ apron system have been almost continuous.

1935

Christchurch City Council selected the present site at
Harewood.

1936

227 hectares of land purchased.

1937

A 915 metre runway and a 60 square metre terminal
constructed.

1940

"Harewood Airport" opened for commercial flying.

1940

Airport used by RNZAF as a training base until 1945.

1948

An additional 260 hectares of land purchased.

1950

Christchurch Airport became the first international airport
operating in New Zealand.

1953

Christchurch hosted the "Great London to Christchurch Air Race",
the first time the route had been traversed in less than 24
hours.

1955

United States Antarctic Operations begin in Christchurch.

1960

A new 6,000 square metre terminal opened.

1962

The main runway was extended to 2,442 metres providing for
commercial jet operations.

1966

An international wing was added to the Domestic Terminal.

1975

Extentions to the Domestic Terminal were completed, extending
the total floor space to 16,000 square metres.

Terminal extended to accommodate Ansett New Zealand and Air New
Zealand lounges and domestic airbridges.

1988

Christchurch International Airport Limited was established as a
company owned 75% by the Christchurch City Council and 25% by the
New Zealand Government.

1988

International check-in and departure area extended by 2,320
square metres.

1989

International arrival area extended by 1,100 square metres and
airbridges and associated facilities of 1,000 square metres
added.

1990

International Antarctic Centre opened.

1997

Redevelopment of airport public carpark completed with an
additional 340 parking spaces.

1998

New International Terminal Building completed creating an
additional 28,000 square metres of new floor space.

2000

Christchurch International Airport introduced real-time Internet
flight information on christchurchairport.co.nz, for both domestic
and international services and became the first airport in the
country to do so.

2000

Qantas New Zealand took to the country's air routes for the
first time.

2001

Expansion of the International Terminal to create two new
international gates.

2002

A new satellite departure lounge was constructed for Origin
Pacific to cater for growing passenger numbers.

2003

Pacific Blue announces Christchurch as their home base in New
Zealand.

2004

Expansion of the International Terminal to create five more
international stands and four more international
airbridges.

Chinese travel service platform launched to boost regional tourism
31 August 2018 | Christchurch Airport has today announced the launch of a South Island Travel Store on Fliggy, a leading Chinese travel service platform and part of the Alibaba digital ecosystem, in a move designed to promote regional tourism and economic development.